How The Body Stores Emotions

This Will Help You Gain A New Perspective On Your Emotions

Have you ever had a day where everything that happens to you seems to anger you in some way? Or you are having a good day, but something simple happens and you are in tears? Why does this happen? What causes you to feel comfortable one second and anxious the next? What you may not understand about yourself is that your body stores a variety of emotions from all of your daily encounters. Sometimes muscles feel tighter in certain areas of the body. Is this because you were sleeping on the wrong side of the bed? Or is it some held onto emotion from a previous day that you mentally forgot about but your body has been storing it in the form of tightness.

The following article delves deeper into how we are emotionally connected with our bodies and what can be done to release those emotions.

See the article below and be sure to pass this along to your friends who could use this amazing perspective.

By Suzanne Heyn

If you have ever felt emotional or even cried during yoga, this is why: as we move through asanas, we literally twist and bend the stagnant emotions out from our bodies. Because the body stores emotions, moving and breathing creates space and helps us process these feelings on an energetic level.

These places are so often tight because we hold on to feelings, replaying circumstances in our minds, holding onto grudges, anger, and resentment. Even if we believe we’ve forgiven on an intellectual level, what does the body say? Have we really let go?

Rigorous science proves the body stores emotions

Dr. Candace Pert was a pioneering neuroscience researcher who, while still a graduate student at Johns Hopkins in the 1970s, discovered the brain’s opioid receptor. She died in 2013, but not before continuing groundbreaking research into the mind, straddling the uncommon line of hippie and hardcore scientist.

Psychologists often blame mood disorders on unbalanced neurotransmitters in the brain, but did you know the stomach has so many neurons — more than the peripheral nervous system — that some researchers call it the “second brain,” reportsScientific American?

According to Pert, emotions trigger the release of special compounds known as peptides stored by the body, whether in a tissue, organ or muscle.

“I think unexpressed emotions are literally lodged in the body,” Pert has said. “The real true emotions that need to be expressed are in the body, trying to move up and be expressed and thereby integrated, made whole, and healed…

Real life examples (aka this isn’t just interesting theory)

In a real life example, someone very close to me has a very difficult time expressing her emotions. Growing up, she learned that emotions were something to be feared, something that made her weak.

In response to traumatic life circumstances, this person shut down instead of reaching out to people around her. She pretended everything was fine even though she was clearly suffering inside.

This person ended up with severely arthritic hips and needed a double hip replacement before she turned 70.

s an example on the other side, is the woman I studied with for my yoga teacher training. This woman is highly realized and spent many years studying in India. Decades ago, the bulk of her practice was Ashtanga, an extremely rigorous type of yoga.

Today, she says, she focuses more on meditation and Bhakti (devotional) yoga than the physical type. However, she’s still extremely strong and flexible and I’ve seen her feet come close to touching her head in king pigeon despite her no longer having a rigorous physical practice. As she says, open mind, open body. Without unexpressed emotions, the body is free to enjoy unrestricted movement.